There have been a few underappreciated sci-fi and/or fantasy films released throughout the first half of the 2020s. Examples include Reminiscence and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The 2010s were much the same, with movies like Pacific Rim, Upgrade, Edge of Tomorrow, Pete’s Dragon, and, like Pete, fellow Disney film John Carter. Based on A Princess of Mars, by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter was essentially Disney’s attempt to replicate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, which is something they would attempt again. First was with The Lone Ranger a year later to equally disastrous results and then nearly a decade after John Carter with Jungle Cruise to slightly better results.
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John Carter had a few massive hills to climb to reach success. For one, next to no one in 2012 had even heard of the source material. Two, Taylor Kitsch was an unproven lead, even if he was one of Friday Night Lights‘ breakout stars. And three, the budget just kept ballooning until it ultimately ended up over $300 million before tax cuts were taken into consideration. In other words, accounting for its massive marketing push, it would have needed to make $650 million worldwide just to break even. It didn’t. But the film deserves a second chance.
What Is John Carter About?
Finding Nemo and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton’s film follows Kitsch’s title character, an Army Captain in the Civil War, as he’s mysteriously transported to Mars. Or, rather, Barsoom. There, he learns that gravity isn’t as restrictive as it is on Earth, which alongside his experience as a combatant allows him to assist in the great conflict between the cities of Helium and Zodanga.
Sab Than, the cruel Jeddak (king) of Zodanga has a weapon given to him by the mystic Matai Shang (Mark Strong, the Kingsman franchise) that he promises will end the war. Than also wants to marry Helium’s princess, Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), not for reasons of love but rather to further his conquest.
A lot of the plot points have been done in films before John Carter, but it’s important to remember that Burroughs source material essentially established the plot points. For those who have gone through all the Star Wars movies and shows on Disney+, a John Carter screening is the next logical stepping stone.
[RELATED: Disney’s John Carter Director Reveals Pitch for Canceled Sequel Gods of Mars]
What Happened?
As mentioned, the break-even point for John Carter was about $600 million. But when it comes to tentpole projects, studios don’t just want them (or any other movie, though it’s especially true with high investment tentpoles) to break even. They need them to soar.
To put just how gargantuan John Carter‘s $300 million budget ($263.7 million after tax credits) was into context, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) had the same price-tag, which made it the most expensive film of all time when released. The difference was that Pirates was a proven moneymaker; John Carter was far from. This was proven by the fact that the studio couldn’t even settle on a title they felt would best market the movie, with it starting as John Carter of Mars before executives and director Stanton began to feel the “of Mars” would narrow the potential audience, especially after the failure of Mars Needs Moms the year prior.
Yet the shortened title was itself a problem. If people don’t know who the somewhat blandly named John Carter is, why would they shell out ten bucks or more for a film titled John Carter? When the film opened, it lost the weekend to the previous week’s debut, The Lorax, solidifying the growing notion that the film would tank. And, while it is extremely unlikely the film will ever reach that break-even point, Disney+ is a perfect avenue to allow the film’s audience to grow.
It should, too, as John Carter is actually a pretty fun film. It’s not as solid as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but it is superior to the last two movies of that franchise, when Disney was wringing the IP for all it was worth even when there was no more story to tell. For his part, Kitsch does well in the lead role, and much of the failure of this film (and the same year’s Battleship) was unjustly put on his shoulders. Fortunately, the actor has done well in subsequent smaller, yet still notable projects, including 2013’s Lone Survivor and The Grand Seduction, 2017’s American Assassin and Only the Brave, and 2019’s Chadwick Boseman-led 21 Bridges.
John Carter is streaming on Disney+.
